Grungy Roots combines love of music, plants

GRAND DETOUR – When a person goes shopping at Grungy Roots in Grand Detour, the eyes of late rockers Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland and Dennis Wilson will be gazing down at you.

Grungy Roots combines two passions of owner Ashley Ruch: grunge music and plants. Wilson was a member of the Beach Boys who helped forge a love of music in Ruch, while Cobain, Cornell and Weiland were famous members of Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots, respectively.

Ruch plans to have an artist paint the east walls of the Grungy Roots building with murals of Cobain, Cornell and Weiland. That project is slated to begin on Monday, and it is hoped to be completed in time for the grand opening of the business on Saturday, April 10.

“I am a die-hard grunger,” Ruch said. “I love grunge music. That is my root of everything. Then I developed this hobby of plants, and their roots are grungy. It just kind of fit together.”

Ashley Ruch and her daughter Bostyn, 10, stand at the plant tables at their new business Grungy Roots in Grand Detour.

A special education teacher at Thome School in Rock Falls for nearly 10 years, Ruch began thinking of opening her own plant business last spring. She consulted with an uncle, Ken Lawler of Altoona, Iowa, who owns a garden center there, and decided to give it a go this spring.

Ruch and her husband, Kevin, have lived in Grand Detour since 2009, and the 1,700 square foot building located at 8094 state Route 2, across the street from the Shell Station, provided just the spot she was looking for. Large windows in the front bring in plenty of natural light.

Grungy Roots will specialize in hard-to-locate potted plants, such as black velvet alocasia and different types of philodendrons. There also are plants that require no soil, and are literally growing on a wall.

“I think I just got tired of not being able to find the plants on my list, so it was very important to me to open this store,” she said. “We specialize in rare plants, but we also have the most basic plants that you can find almost anywhere.”

Grungy Roots in Grand Detour offers a wide variety of plants.

There will also be a pot-your-own-plant station, in which all the materials are provided for shoppers to build their own plant.

“If people are just getting into this hobby, a lot of times they don’t have the right soil at home,” Ruch said. “Who wants to go buy a bag of soil just for one plant? We offer a pot-your-own-plant station so you buy a plant, buy a pot, and we’ll have the right soil for that plant, along with fertilizer and water.”

The Ruchs have a pond at their home where various plants thrive, and pond plants will also be available.

Grungy Roots in Grand Detour offers a wide variety of plants including cacti.

Another feature will be Pam’s Pots, named after Ruch’s late mother. People bring in an article of clothing from a loved one. It is dipped into a solution and formed into a pot.

“You would bring in a T-shirt, a pair of pants or anything you would like, and we custom-make these pots,” Ruch said. “Once they are cured, you pick out a plant, put it in there, and you’ll have it forever.”

Ruch plans to have perennials, herbs and annuals later this spring, and she will do her best to either stock or locate whatever exotic plants her customers are seeking.

“We’re trying our best to find everything,” Ruch said. “Unfortunately, what I want people to understand right now is COVID messed with the production of things. Greenhouses around the world were shut down, so it’s a lot harder find certain plants, especially South American plants and African plants.”